State v. Lucas

• Decision Date: 20 July 2001
• Docket Number: No. 278PA00.,278PA00.
• Citation: 353 N.C. 568,548 S.E.2d 712
• Court: North Carolina Supreme Court
• Parties: STATE of North Carolina, v. William Rashad LUCAS.

548 S.E.2d 712

353 N.C. 568

STATE of North Carolina, v. William Rashad LUCAS.

No. 278PA00.

Supreme Court of North Carolina.

July 20, 2001.

Roy A. Cooper, Attorney General, by K.D. Sturgis and Robert C. Montgomery, Assistant Attorneys General, for the State-appellant and -appellee.

Staples Hughes, Appellate Defender, by Danielle M. Carman, Assistant Appellate Defender, for defendant-appellant and -appellee.

EDMUNDS, Justice.

Defendant William Rashad Lucas was indicted for first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, first-degree kidnapping, possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction, conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to commit kidnapping. He was tried before a jury at the 16 February 1998 Criminal Session of Superior Court, Harnett County. On 24 February 1998, the jury returned verdicts convicting defendant of first-degree burglary as an aider and abettor, second-degree kidnapping as an aider and abettor, and possession of a weapon of mass destruction, while acquitting him of first-degree murder and the conspiracy charges. The trial court sentenced defendant to consecutive terms of imprisonment of 124 to 146 months for first-degree burglary, 85 to 99 months for second-degree kidnapping, and 16 to 20 months for possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction.

Defendant appealed to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, which ordered a new trial based on the trial court's failure to convey adequately the concept of specific intent necessary to support convictions of first-degree burglary and second-degree kidnapping under the theory of aiding and abetting. On 12 July 2000, we allowed both the State's petition for discretionary review and defendant's conditional petition for discretionary review as to additional issues, and on 5 October 2000, we agreed to consider defendant's motion for appropriate relief. For the reasons that follow, we reverse the Court of Appeals as to the issue raised by the State. As to the additional issues raised by defendant in his conditional petition for discretionary review, we find no error. Finally, we grant defendant a new sentencing hearing on the firearm enhancement issue raised in defendant's motion for appropriate relief.

At defendant's trial, the State's evidence showed that on 18 January 1997, Dale Jerome McLean; his girlfriend, Gwendolyn Annette Morrison; and his two children, Chastity Latrice McLean and Dale Jerome McLean, Jr., were at McLean's home in Harnett County, North Carolina. Upon hearing a knock on the back door at approximately 8:00 p.m., McLean, who was in the back bedroom with Morrison, looked out the window and saw Jimmy Wayne Lawrence, Morrison's former boyfriend. Morrison told McLean that she would "handle it." Wearing only a coat covering a nightgown and slippers, Morrison stepped outside to speak with Lawrence. Lawrence asked Morrison to leave with him, and when she refused, he pointed a nine-millimeter pistol at her. Morrison turned around and saw defendant standing nearby, holding a sawed-off shotgun across his body. Morrison told Lawrence that she "didn't want no trouble" and that she would get dressed and go with him.

Morrison went back into McLean's home. As she was closing the door, Lawrence "busted his way through" the doorway and pushed Morrison out of the way. When McLean emerged from the bedroom, Lawrence aimed his pistol at him. Morrison struggled with Lawrence, and Lawrence began shooting. The pistol at first misfired, but Lawrence's second shot struck McLean in the head. McLean fell, and Lawrence fired eight more shots at him from close range. Morrison saw defendant standing inside the doorway of the home, holding the shotgun.

Lawrence then stated to Morrison, "Come on. Let's go." When Morrison refused, Lawrence threatened to kill her if she did not leave with him, then grabbed her and took her to his vehicle. She was still wearing only an overcoat over a nightgown and slippers. Lawrence forced Morrison to sit in the back of the vehicle while he sat in the front passenger seat and defendant drove. As they were driving, Lawrence stated to defendant, "Slow down. We don't want to make it look like we're doing something wrong." Defendant later commented to Lawrence, "Jimmy, you should have killed her too because she's going to tell it." They stopped at the home of Lawrence's father where Lawrence went inside. Morrison remained in the car as defendant stood behind the vehicle. Lawrence emerged from his father's house, spoke to defendant briefly, then made Morrison move from Lawrence's car to the back seat of defendant's vehicle. When they left Lawrence's father's house, Lawrence again sat in the front passenger seat while defendant drove.

They arrived at a Comfort Inn, where Lawrence checked in while defendant and Morrison remained in the vehicle. The three then entered the rented room, and defendant's shotgun was placed on the bed. After Lawrence and defendant talked briefly, defendant left for about thirty-five to forty minutes. At some point that evening, Lawrence raped Morrison at the Comfort Inn. Although the sequence of events is not clear from the record, it appears that the rape occurred during defendant's absence. When defendant returned, he brought clothes for Morrison. After talking to Lawrence, defendant departed again. Thereafter, Lawrence telephoned his father to pick him up. Once Lawrence left the room, Morrison called the police.

Chastity, the victim's daughter, corroborated Morrison's version of events. She testified that defendant was dressed entirely in black, held a long gun, and was "half inside and half outside" McLean's house during the shooting. She identified defendant in the courtroom as the man present at the scene of the murder, and she testified that Lawrence "snatched" Morrison when he was leaving and that Morrison was "fussing" as she was forced to leave. Chastity telephoned her grandmother, Eloise McLean Swann, after Lawrence, defendant and Morrison left McLean's residence and reported that her father had been shot. Swann arrived at McLean's home shortly thereafter, and when Swann asked Chastity who was responsible, Chastity told her that "it was two men." Swann's testimony at trial corroborated Chastity.

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Agent Sam Pennica photographed the scene of the shooting and collected cartridge cases and projectiles from the area around and under McLean's body. After processing the crime scene, Agent Pennica went to the Comfort Inn and determined that Lawrence had registered there. By that time, Lawrence was in custody at the Lee County Sheriff's Department where he signed a waiver of rights form and consented to a search of the hotel room. Agent Pennica conducted the search and found a loaded sawed-off twenty-gauge shotgun under the box springs of one of the beds.

Agent Pennica then assisted other investigators in interviewing Lawrence, who had been moved to the Harnett County Sheriff's Department. As a result of the questioning, Lawrence identified defendant as the second man at the crime scene. In addition, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Wayne Truax obtained the telephone records from the room registered to Lawrence at the Comfort Inn and determined that a call had been made from that room to defendant. Defendant subsequently was arrested at the residence of his girlfriend and transported to the Sanford Police Department where he waived his Miranda rights and consented to a search of his vehicle. Defendant gave a statement to Agent Pennica in which he admitted traveling with Lawrence to the victim's home, but he denied knowing why Lawrence was going there or what Lawrence planned to do. Defendant also denied having a weapon while at the home and claimed that he did not know what happened inside. During this interrogation, defendant revealed that the nine-millimeter handgun used by Lawrence to kill McLean was at his (defendant's) girlfriend's house. Agent Truax searched defendant's vehicle and recovered a pager along with several nine-millimeter rounds and twenty-gauge shotgun shells.

Tomeka Goins, defendant's girlfriend, stated that on the evening in question, defendant came to her house in an agitated state and said that "Jimmy was in trouble." While there, defendant received a page from Lawrence, then left with some of Goins' clothes. When he returned, defendant hid a nine-millimeter pistol at the foot of Goins' bed. She subsequently turned the weapon over to the investigators.

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Thomas Trochum testified that ten shell casings retrieved from the crime scene had been fired in the nine-millimeter pistol recovered from Goins' home. Pathologist Keith Lehman found seven gunshot wounds to McLean's head and two gunshot wounds to his right arm. He concluded that the cause of death was gunshot wounds to the head and added that gunpowder markings on McLean's face indicated that bullets were fired from a distance between one-half inch to three and one-half feet.

Three witnesses testified during defendant's case in chief. Linda Dowdy, Lawrence's aunt, testified that defendant was at a cookout on 18 January 1997 and left with Lawrence in Lawrence's vehicle. She also testified that she had purchased the nine-millimeter pistol used in the shootings from a pawn shop and had given it to Lawrence.

Defendant testified in his own behalf. He stated that he spent 18 January 1997 with Lawrence at a cookout at Lawrence's father's house. While there, Lawrence received three pages from a female. The female apparently was Morrison, who testified that she paged defendant several times earlier in the day. Lawrence called the female in response to the pages, then asked defendant to drive him home. After arriving at Lawrence's home, Lawrence asked defendant to ride with him to the house of a female with whom he was "supposed to get a room." Defendant noticed that Lawrence "wasn't...